Frequently Asked Questions

Everyday we answer emails, calls, DMs, and more from young creatives. Here are the most common questions people ask.

About Our Programs

Our students are like snowflakes, no two are alike. Are you a lawyer who is bursting with creativity and needs to get out of that large law firm? Did you just graduate with a 4-year degree and realize that you really need a portfolio to get your dream job? Have you always been creative and wanted a career rather than be a starving artist? Then this school is for you!

Our portfolio programs are designed to prepare you to be a creative with skills that are broad and appropriate. Although you only have time to study one major in your two years here, you will get a lot of cross pollination. Copywriters take Adobe Creative Suite. Art directors take a writing course. You will be well prepared no matter which major you choose!

Portfolio Programs:

  • Art Direction – 2 years (8 quarters)
  • Copywriting – 2 years (8 quarters)
  • Creative Technology – 2 years (8 quarters)
  • Digital Design – 2 years (8 quarters)
  • Photography – 2 years (8 quarters)

Master’s Degree:

  • Masters of Arts in Strategic Design partnered with Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina – 19 months (6 quarters at MAS – 5 semesters at Furman concurrent)
  • Master of Science degree in Mass Communication awarded by Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida – 19 months (6 quarters at MAS – 5 semesters at FIU concurrent)
  • Hamburg & Berlin Master of Science in Management and Innovation for Creativity and Business – 2 years (8 quarters)

Boot Camps:

  • Strategic Planning – 10 weeks (100 hours)
  • Social Media – 12 weeks (120 hours)
  • UX Design – 12 weeks (120 hours)

Apply to the one Miami Ad School location you’re most interested in. As a domestic student, if you change your mind later and want to attend a different location, your acceptance is transferable. You will only need to fill out the enrollment form for that new location and pay the corresponding tuition rate.

Unfortunately, international students are currently unable to transfer locations due to USCIS rules.

Our programs start 4 times a year: in January, April, July, and October. Applications close a few months before.

Choose the schedule that works best for you. No matter when you opt to start your education, the lessons you learn will be the same.

For Master’s and Portfolio programs at M.AD, there are two steps to submit your application:

• Create a profile on our Application Portal.

• Show us who you are as a creative thinker. You’ll be asked to respond to a number of creative prompts, and share your work with us to evaluate where you are in your creative development.

Visit our How to Apply page for more information on how to fill out your application.

*Note: Boot Camp programs do not require an application. You may register for a boot camp by visiting our online portal.

The NoM.AD programs allows M.AD students to study and intern in up to four additional cities around the world. 

You can study in a different school location, intern or participate in an Agency Lab, where you actually go to school every day inside an agency.

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About the School

We like to say that your first day of Miami Ad School is the first day of your career. And we mean it.

In most educational institutions, placement assistance—helping you actually get a job after graduation—is something that happens at the very end of your time there. Here, it’s very much an ongoing process.

It begins with the mission of Miami Ad School—to prepare you with the tools and resources you’ll need to land a job in one of the creative fields. That’s why M.AD instructors are industry professionals. They have the jobs you aspire to and they’ll teach you the skills they use every day. You’ll learn the fundamentals of the creative process and how to push your work further and begin to develop your skills as an art directorcopywriterdesignerphotographervideographeraccount planner or social strategist.

During your time at M.AD you’ll also have the chance to connect in a meaningful way with over 200 professionals working in the industry. It’s an unparalleled opportunity to develop a network that will prove invaluable throughout your career. Your teachers, the guest speakers you’ll meet every week (we call them Insighters), your mentors, and all the creatives you’ll work with during your internships, all are people that could hire you in the future. Then there are your classmates. Miami Ad School graduates love to hire Miami Ad School grads. You might end up working with someone who started school on the same day you did. Then again, maybe you’ll be working for them. Or they might work for you. Anything can happen. (Indeed, it all has—many, many times.)

After graduation, you can take part in Miami Ad School’s portfolio reviews, held four times a year in different locations. It’s your chance to have a dozen interviews in a single day and it’s one of the ways our grads find jobs quickly. And, with Job Leads for Life, M.AD supports you with new job opportunities throughout your career. You’ll receive hundreds of leads every year—from top agencies—at all levels from junior to creative director and even higher.

Of course. The Miami Ad School US locations are all accredited by the Council on Occupational Education (also called COE).

Let’s talk about school location similarities first. The courses in each location are practically identical and the instructors in each city are all advertising and design professionals at the top of their game. No matter which city you pick you’ll get great training, have the opportunity to intern and develop a portfolio that reflects your skills. Choose the school in the city where you would like to live, explore and study for a year. Then you have the opportunity to study or intern in other cities.

Different schools do have different majors and languages so make sure you are fluent in the native language. English is the norm at most of the schools and Quarter Away locations, but in Buenos Aires and Mexico City classes are held in Spanish. In Sao Paulo classes are in Portuguese. In Madrid you can learn in Spanish, English or both.

Student loans and grants are the way many U.S. Citizens and legal residents cover their school and living expenses. If you already have an undergraduate degree, which most Miami Ad School students do, it is most likely your federal loans will generally cover most, but not all, of your entire tuition cost. Alternative funding or private loans are how most students cover the difference in financial aid coverage.

Financial need for federal loans is calculated by the Department of Education based on the answers you provide on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Subsidized and unsubsidized loan programs require the filing of a FAFSA. Deadlines for the FAFSA are 30 days before your start date but we encourage you to start the process much sooner.

Download the steps to the FASFA process.

We never want you to repeat a course if you are already accomplished in the subject matter. We have skills tests to test out of the different Adobe applications. Just contact your admissions advisor for information.

Sometimes advanced placement is awarded for prior training or work experience but keep in mind the typical Miami Ad School student already has related educational or work experience. If you skip over too many classes then you are not building a portfolio. The most advanced placement allowed is eight classes/two quarters and this happens very rarely.

All of our students rent apartments in the area where the school is located. If you have questions about an individual location just contact the school you are interested in attending. They will suggest apartments or real estate agents that you can contact. If you’re interested in having a roommate the school can connect you with other new students who want to share an apartment.

Medical expenses in the United States are very costly. We strongly recommend that you purchase health insurance. Please contact your local health insurance office. They may have plans that can cover you. If they don’t the school has an insurance pamphlet that will explain other options.

Building a Creative Career

Here’s the truth: years ago, it was incredibly difficult to make money as a creative person. The contributions of designers, innovators, and creative individuals of all stripes weren’t always valued the way they should be.

But the world is changing. In fact, it’s changing faster than it ever has. And the world’s most successful companies (think Tesla, Apple, Disney) are built on the efforts of creative people. Companies like these know that the only way to survive and thrive in the 21st century is to constantly innovate, to better understand the people they serve, and to come up with better ideas every day than they did the day before.

So in short? Yes, you can make money by being creative. At M.AD we teach you to harness your natural creativity so you can bring valuable insights and skills to any organization or cause you choose to work for.

Today, more than any time before, the silos between creative disciplines have begun to seriously break down. Many (and we mean many) of our recent grads have ended up working in a field adjacent to what they actually studied. Former Art Directors are working in design. Strategists are working as writers. And loads of them do a whole host of things—a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Whatever it takes to get the job at hand done.

It’s a great question, and one that we often ask our graduates. 

Here’s what they usually say: a creative lifestyle means doing something new every day. Our grads tend to say that the biggest appeal of their jobs is the excitement and adventure. You might be writing a script and preparing the set for an upcoming ad. You might be collaborating on a viral TikTok campaign. And of course, there’s a whole universe of possibilities in between.

That’s not to say it’s all easy. Part of the appeal of a creative career, though, is the challenges you’ll face. Creative professionals tend to be energized by new problems that need to be solved with ingenuity.

Next Quarter Starts April 2, 2024

Our programs start 4 times a year: in January, April, July, and October.

Click below to find out more about our admissions process and take the first step towards your dream career today.

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Ready for a new career?
Apply by January 2024.

Join Miami Ad School and get paid for your creativity.

  • Learn from the best.
  • Develop your skills.
  • Become who you’re meant to be.